Just how bad would living in night city be as a peasant?

[Darksynapse]

Lets say a 25 year old male with no education and no real money. How bad is this guy going to have it if hes willing to do anything to get rich?

[Senki]

you'll probably end up working for a gang with a high chance of dying

if you had education you might become a corpo with a boring job

[Darksynapse]

Originally posted by Senki:

you'll probably end up working for a gang with a high chance of dying

if you had education you might become a corpo with a boring job

So it's not Warhammer 40k levels of bad but sitll bad

[sgrey]

25 year old male with no education (and assuming without any skills) and money would not live well in any society...
Ok, 200 years ago when everyone was a farmer and had to farm to live, then sure, it would be kind of ok...

[Titan Awaken]

You have described word for word the basic premise of Edgerunners. Only big difference being that David is 17 instead of 25.

If you want to know how bad he gets it in NC, watch the show.

[Erei]

Only 3% of the NC citizen have any access to healthcare. I'll give you a tip, the 3% is likely to live in corpo plaza.
Militech is one of the best company of the year because they offer up to 3 vacations days per year.
Nightcorp is also good because they offer only 20years of forced contract with them.
Another is a good company for offering only 80h/week (that's nearly 12h a day), which mean it is lower than the others.
Nearly everything is a for profit private company, including police and healthcare.

It's cyberpunk, people are numbers on spreadsheets. Corps rule the world. Corpo can literally murder people in front of the cops and nothing will happen to them. You die as a nobody or try to die as a legend. No in between.

[psionyx]

Originally posted by Darksynapse:

Originally posted by Senki:

you'll probably end up working for a gang with a high chance of dying

if you had education you might become a corpo with a boring job

So it's not Warhammer 40k levels of bad but sitll bad

You might get scooped up by a gang, you might get abducted by Maelstrom or the Scavs and gutted for parts, or forcibly converted into a cyborg because they find it funny. You might get snatched up and sold to Jotaro for snuff XBDs...and THEN sold to the Scavs for parts. You might get shot in random street violence. You might get run over by some mid-tier corpo and completely ignored because she has car insurance (which in Night City means you pay to make the problem go away). You might develop a ton of medical problems because you live in that one district where tons of chemical and toxic wastes were dumped. You might die to a cyberpsycho, you might BECOME a cyberpsycho. You might get hacked by some random merc and die, you might agree to do a job that ends up being for the Voodoo Boys and die. You might end up walking into the wrong bar and die. You might be working on some BD film and die. You might have the debt on your medical implants expire and they come to collect your organs and die. You might have your implants be installed by someone like Fingers and die. You might have to sell your body to perverts while you shut off into an induced coma, and hope they don't smash your body while you are being used. If you DO end up getting damaged severely, you might find yourself sold off to a ripperdoc, but not before your pimp uses you for his own sick pleasure for several days before selling you to the Scavs. You might get crushed by Adam Smasher. You might get killed by the cops, you might BE a cop and get killed because your job is crazy dangerous. You might get removed from a corpo life because ending your benefits and resources helps their profit margin. You might go to a party that you got an invitation for and find out it's a human trafficking/organ harvesting racket and die. You might die of starvation and malnutrition, and a ton of other ailments because healthcare is a joke in Night City. And a laundry list of other things that literally happen IN GAME (as all of my above examples are pulled just of the top of my head), that illustrate how horrible life in Night City is for a regular person.

So you know....not good.

[Delta-Kilo]

No education in a major city today, that would be a hellish scenario. In Night City, such a person would have already beaten the odds making it to 25. That person would not live to see 30. Likely without any legit work so disease, starvation, gang violence, accidents, or some other calamity would drop them sooner rather than later.

[yahboi1988]

Originally posted by psionyx:

Originally posted by Darksynapse:

So it's not Warhammer 40k levels of bad but sitll bad

You might get scooped up by a gang, you might get abducted by Maelstrom or the Scavs and gutted for parts, or forcibly converted into a cyborg because they find it funny. You might get snatched up and sold to Jotaro for snuff XBDs...and THEN sold to the Scavs for parts. You might get shot in random street violence. You might get run over by some mid-tier corpo and completely ignored because she has car insurance (which in Night City means you pay to make the problem go away). You might develop a ton of medical problems because you live in that one district where tons of chemical and toxic wastes were dumped. You might die to a cyberpsycho, you might BECOME a cyberpsycho. You might get hacked by some random merc and die, you might agree to do a job that ends up being for the Voodoo Boys and die. You might end up walking into the wrong bar and die. You might be working on some BD film and die. You might have the debt on your medical implants expire and they come to collect your organs and die. You might have your implants be installed by someone like Fingers and die. You might have to sell your body to perverts while you shut off into an induced coma, and hope they don't smash your body while you are being used. If you DO end up getting damaged severely, you might find yourself sold off to a ripperdoc, but not before your pimp uses you for his own sick pleasure for several days before selling you to the Scavs. You might get crushed by Adam Smasher. You might get killed by the cops, you might BE a cop and get killed because your job is crazy dangerous. You might get removed from a corpo life because ending your benefits and resources helps their profit margin. You might go to a party that you got an invitation for and find out it's a human trafficking/organ harvesting racket and die. You might die of starvation and malnutrition, and a ton of other ailments because healthcare is a joke in Night City. And a laundry list of other things that literally happen IN GAME (as all of my above examples are pulled just of the top of my head), that illustrate how horrible life in Night City is for a regular person.

So you know....not good.

Even "The Warp" has an equivalent in Cyberpunk, Netrunners like Psychers can also be possessed by entities from another dimension.

[mookymook]

watch the anime

[Falaris]

This is a dystopian setting.

Cyberpunk, as a concept, is based upon a literary style popular in the 80's-90's with a near-future warning of how badly things can go if the trends of the time continued - which they mostly have done.

To some extent, we're there. We don't have all the tech, but that's kind of just a minor detail. Just imagine a USA where there is no middle class; there's no legit way to get above lower class unless you start there. No EPA, no OSHA, no protection at all - unemployment's so high you will take any job no matter how ♥♥♥♥ it is, which means, any job you can get will be of the 'you need 2-3 jobs to survive' variety. Women can no longer afford having babies in hospital unless they are well-off, which means pretty grim survival statistics. (Which is a thing today too; having a baby safely in a hospital costs ~50k USD, let alone the upbringing; something not everyone can afford.). Think africa, except extreme heavy metal pollution, high crime rates, and no familial support network. Sound familiar? It kind of is, just with holographic fish and less rats and birds in Night City.

If they are poor, today at least they can marry rich, but in 2077 the corpos live in gated communities; there is no social arena where they can meet in anything resembling equality. Dolls aren't even conscious when they do their thing.

So... as a 25 year old male, you might get a GF, but if you try to have kids, you roll the dice with her life. In regular society, unless you have a job, you can't afford to live. Not 'live in a house', or 'live decently' - live. One job gets you food or a roof. Two jobs, and you can have both, you lucky, sad bastard. And getting one job really takes luck; god help you if you have an accident, because noone else can, or will.

Also, let's get this straight: Lack of morals and willing to do anything is assumed; that doesn't make you special. Your corpo prospects are already gone; barring unusual cases, if you didn't get picked before you were 20, that train's left the station.

So, gangs then?

Gangs, of course, have the same problems, but they are the closest thing you get to a support network, protection, health care. They are not a good solution to those challenges, but they're the only one you can get. They are also a criminal pyramid scheme; at the bottom your only 'pay' is the hope that you get to the higher ranks where you actually make a living - even a good living - on the activities. Some gangs are worse than others. Scavs, obviously, being beyond bad. Valentinos, 6th street etc. are pretty okay to be in - relatively speaking. (One of the events you can run into is a 6th street barbecue party with a bit of a shooting competition going on, it's an interesting look at the work-unrelated life). Of course, the gang wants you to carry your weight; it may be as huscle, joytoy, dealer, or any number of semi-legal professions - the gangs run legit or semi-legit businesses along with the illegal stuff - bars, clubs, chop shops, clinics, etc. so mechanic, nurse, etc are real options. Good health, relatively young, those are good +'s. No education is a massive neg though; there as anywhere else.

In some ways, you can equate it with living in some of the worst cities in the US today; a dubious neighbourhood in ... eh, probably shouldn't name places. You can imagine. Your prospects aren't much better or worse. Wether you die because someone wants your kidneys, your wallet, car or cyberware isn't really that big a difference; dead or crippled is dead or crippled. The chances of it are higher in Night City, though.

[Erei]

Originally posted by Falaris:

Gangs, of course, have the same problems, but they are the closest thing you get to a support network, protection, health care. They are not a good solution to those challenges, but they're the only one you can get. They are also a criminal pyramid scheme; at the bottom your only 'pay' is the hope that you get to the higher ranks where you actually make a living - even a good living - on the activities. Some gangs are worse than others. Scavs, obviously, being beyond bad. Valentinos, 6th street etc. are pretty okay to be in - relatively speaking. (One of the events you can run into is a 6th street barbecue party with a bit of a shooting competition going on, it's an interesting look at the work-unrelated life). Of course, the gang wants you to carry your weight; it may be as huscle, joytoy, dealer, or any number of semi-legal professions - the gangs run legit or semi-legit businesses along with the illegal stuff - bars, clubs, chop shops, clinics, etc. so mechanic, nurse, etc are real options. Good health, relatively young, those are good +'s. No education is a massive neg though; there as anywhere else.

No gangs are "good". Some are worse than others, while you certainly don't want to be caught by the scavs or maelstrom, but it's not like the valentinos are good guys either.
Tinos do drug trafficking, people trafficking, racket and loan sharks. They won't hesitate to dump your body with cement shoes in the Bay if you don't pay up their rackets. Or put your daughter to work in the street to pay your debt.
6th street only tolerate "true american", which mean basically nothing at all. They'll target everyone else. In short, they target everyone they don't like, and the list is whatever they want it to be. if they don't consider you a "patriot" it's all fair game. They also do racket, drug trafficking kidnapping/ransom and other stuff like that.
Mox are presented as the less worse of the lot, arguably, but they are not charity either. It's not in their interest if the joytoy and dolls they "employ" stop working, for example.


When I say drug trafficking, it's not even today's drugs. It's much worse. The stuff you are addicted immediately and literally die if you stop taking, or the stuff that make you dead anyway after some time. They also force people to take their first hit to make them addict forever.

And all of them will happily shoot each other for territory in the middle of the street, no matter if civilians are caught in the crossfire or not.


In Night City, or basically the world, there are no "good people" left. They die young or change. Only a range of bad people, neutral at best.
Look at Judy, she is a good people, one of the few, or River. Both literally fail and need to leave (for one) or get a new job (for the other). Can't be "good" in that kind of world.

[Falaris]

Originally posted by Erei:

Originally posted by Falaris:

Gangs, of course, have the same problems, but they are the closest thing you get to a support network, protection, health care. They are not a good solution to those challenges, but they're the only one you can get. *snip*

No gangs are "good".

Good thing I didn't say they were then. I did try to offer a slightly more nuanced view than some others here; it's a grim setting, not grimderp. There's a difference. Also, if you look at the sourcebooks, your numbers and description is just plain wrong; I expect what you write is headcanon, not the actual setting; take Africa, for instance.

This is what the sourcebook says on 6th street:
"Born from the many vetrans of the 4th corp war, the 6th street is a vigilante gang which protects various neighbourhoods around Night City. Members of the 6th Street are generally well-armed and heavily cybered-up with armament from their days in the field. Recently, they have been forced to move into extortion and smuggling in efforts to pay their bills. While they operate all through the city, the 6th Street are all welcome protectors of the Holy Angels Church.". That's the entirety of the note on them.

The Tyger Claws are described as having a significant role in rebuilding the sections of Japan Town after the 4th corp war and 'a dangerous protector gang for the asian community'.

In the tabletop, a lot of PC's come from the gangs, and in many stories they are the heroes. In others, the villains. Gray; not black, not white.

It's probably worth mentioning that among the 'surplus population', the economy is often barter or trade based, and to only a smaller degree eddies - based.

Of course, that's from Cyberpunk RED, the tabletop version of Cyberpunk leading up to 2077.

[Erei]

Originally posted by Falaris:

This is what the sourcebook says on 6th street:
"Born from the many vetrans of the 4th corp war, the 6th street is a vigilante gang which protects various neighbourhoods around Night City. Members of the 6th Street are generally well-armed and heavily cybered-up with armament from their days in the field. Recently, they have been forced to move into extortion and smuggling in efforts to pay their bills. While they operate all through the city, the 6th Street are all welcome protectors of the Holy Angels Church.". That's the entirety of the note on them.

Speaking mostly ingame. 6th street literally attack a militech convoy (which is basically NUSA, Myers is former militech CEO and so was her predecessor), they have a debate with another 6th street about it, the other saying they are not "true patriot". They also begrugindly not shoot you during the quest for the iconic rifle where you shoot dummies and drink. And the 6th street boss will attack if you win his rifle in the "beats on the brats" fight, despite winning fair and square.
Not to mention some NPCD alert where the shop owner lament the fact 6th street is not there to protect them when they need them. Which imply they are just running a racket, not protection business.
There are also many NCPD alert/gig where they kill, ransom, do drug trafficking and so on and so forth.

The Tyger Claws are described as having a significant role in rebuilding the sections of Japan Town after the 4th corp war and 'a dangerous protector gang for the asian community'.

Ingame they are one of the worst, with the event in Clouds, or people like Shobo. It's been said that there are factions in the TC, the "old guard" who is more like you describe, and the other faction which is "whatever makes money" like Shobo.

[Falaris]

Originally posted by Erei:

Originally posted by Falaris:

*stuff*

*other stuff*

These are huge gangs with hundreds if not thousands of members, and they ARE criminal enterprises; of course horrific things happen.

General descriptions soundly beat individual anecdotes if we're talking about general behavior though.

[Erei]

Originally posted by Falaris:

Originally posted by Erei:

*other stuff*

These are huge gangs with hundreds if not thousands of members, and they ARE criminal enterprises; of course horrific things happen.

General descriptions soundly beat individual anecdotes if we're talking about general behavior though.

Just like corpo. Or NCPD. Takemura is not an evil person, yet his is very much a corpo.

Still, if you work for Arasaka, you work for an evil organisation, even if you are a good person. Same for gangs. Although some like the scavs can't have "good guys" (how are you a good guy when you harvest people's organs for a living ?), others certainly do, like the tinos with Jacky.

It's a dog eat dog world and gangs are not so different than corps. NCPD is a glorified gang to. You have some that are worst than others, that's about it. And good people here and there.